Community Protection

In the Sierra Nevada the threat of wildfire harming communities is growing as the population increases in the mountains and foothills. Sierra Forest Legacy leads the Firewise Communities USA program in our region, and works to promote the use of the Conservation Community Wildfire Protection Planning model, a science-based model which we helped to develop. We are also involved with Fire Safe Councils throughout the region, working to increase the overall protection and involvement of Sierra Nevada communities.

Research conducted by USFS researcher Jack Cohen and others has shown that property can be protected from wildfire without destroying the natural character of the environment. It turns out that there are many "little things" that individual property owners can do to greatly improve protection of life and property from fire hazards. Our Community Protection program aims to address these issues, and to share information with our Sierran neighbors, so that we can all do our part to protect our communities while we preserve the beautiful character of our natural surroundings. Read more about our programs and where we work, and the research findings that informs our work, in the links in the column on the left.